The Myth of the Phoenix

 

We have seen earlier that after March 21, 6 BCE (vernal equinox), the Sun “ruled” Aries and all planets known to the ancients passed through the first sign – as if paying tribute to the almighty Sun. This was featured by the Jesuit scholar A. J. Maas in the context of the Star of Bethlehem, and is confirmed by the computations of Tuckerman and JPL, but we can only speculate why this was such an important omen. Plato's Timaeus comes to mind, which was widely read by the medieval clergy, where the philosopher linked such planetary line-ups to the fullness of time. This concept includes the predictions of the Chaldean astrologer Berossus of Babylon who held that certain line-ups of our Solar system have an immense force over water and fire. This force caused allegedly the global inundations and conflagrations in pre-historic times of which the Deluge and Atlantis are the only remaining Western legends.

 

1. Sources from Antiquity

            The two triangles in the sky, as the Magi would have seen them shine down on Bethlehem, fuse into a "Star of David" in perfect perspective above the horizon. Yet if we ignore the perspective, we can easily imagine the shape of a large bird, with a head and tail, two legs, and its wings spread wide, soaring silently above the horizon – shortly before it is "burned" by the Sun.

            The most ancient text about this fabled bird is by Herodotus (5th cent. BCE), who filed this sophisticated report from sources he did not quite seem to trust:

"They have also another sacred bird called the phoenix which I myself have never seen, except in pictures. Indeed it is a great rarity, even in Egypt, only coming there (according to the accounts of the people of Heliopolis) once in five hundred years, when the old phoenix dies. Its size and appearance, if it is like the pictures, are as follow: The plumage is partly red, partly golden, while the general make and size are almost exactly that of the eagle. They tell a story of what this bird does, which does not seem to me to be credible: that he comes all the way from Arabia, and brings the parent bird, all plastered over with myrrh, to the temple of the Sun, and there buries the body.... " 

            It is of special interest for us that the Phoenix is allegedly partly red and partly golden, because it happens to be the colors of the three planets, Mars being the red planet. It flies from Arabia to Egypt, from the east to the west, which is the course of the planets as seen from Earth. It dies at Heliopolis, the Temple of the Sun, which is another symbolism that is supported by the astronomical facts as the planets seem to be "consumed" by the Sun. The general make and size of the Phoenix is almost exactly like an eagle, which is the relative size of the hexagram as seen at the horizon. Even the given lifespan of 500 years is a somewhat "astronomical" number that supports our comparison, which indicates that we are about to "trap" the fabulous Phoenix!  

 Plutarch (ca. 46-120 CE) was a contemporary of the anonymous writer of Matthew's Gospel about Christ's birth and adoration of the Magi. He was, however, not only an erudite historian and biographer but also a priest of the Pythian Apollo in Delphi, and according to his own testimonial (Treatise 10) initiated in the secret mysteries of Dionysus. In his work "de defectu oraculorum" (Moralia), he admits openly that the divine oracles have lost their power because the people have changed, which resulted in certain "defects of the oracles".

During a discussion of Plato's Timaeus, Plutarch features Cleombrotus who had made many excursions in Egypt and about the land of the cave-dwellers and who had sailed beyond the Persian Gulf (1). He suggests that it is not entirely clear whether the doctrine of the demons originally derived from the Magi, the disciples of Zoroaster, from Orpheus, from the Egyptians, or from the Phrygians. Plutarch goes on to refer to Hesiod's fragment 304, because the Nymphs are mentioned there and included among the demons, and then quotes a riddle from Hesiod's fragment 183:

Nine generations long is the life of the crow and its cawing,

(9)

nine generations of vigorous men. The lives of

four crows together

(9x4=36)

 equal the life of a stag, and three stags the

old age of a raven;

(3x36=108)

 nine of the lives of the raven the life of the

Phoenix do equal,

(108x9=972)

 ten of the Phoenix we Nymphs, fair daughters

of Zeus of the aegis."

(972x10=9720)

 

            After questioning the strange claim of the Nymphs, Plutarch addresses the problem of how to calculate vigorous men, because some make in their vigor 30 years, according to Heraclitus. Others prefer in their eld and assign 108 years to a generation; for they say that 54 marks the limit of the middle years of human life, a number which is made up of the first number, the first two plane surfaces, two squares and two cubes, numbers which Plato also used in his Generations of the Soul:

1 + (1x2) + (1x3) +4 +9 + 8 + 27 = 54

            The (above) inserted numbers in red are based on Plutarch's next suggestion, which allows us to consider the smallest "unit of one" for a generation because the above 9720 is, according to Plutarch, "less than most mathematicians think, and more than Pindar has stated when he says that the Nymphs are allotted a term as long as the years of a tree, and for this reason he calls them Hamadryads".

            Plutarch’s calculation of 972 years for the lifespan of the phoenix is quite convincing, and surprisingly, it is even supported by his reference to the Magi and Zoroaster. Plutarch is suggesting that we can't trust the claim of the Nymphs, which are "demonic creatures" that dwell in the moist, lower regions and only live as long as trees. If our interpretation is correct, and we accept the advice of Pindar and Plutarch, the Nymphs are obviously lying when they claim to live ten times longer than the Phoenix, which is probably why they speak for themselves. Hence, we ignore 9720 and subtract 10 from the Phoenix:

972-10 = 962.

          We know two things: The riddle is not about the Nymphs, but about the Phoenix, and we subtracted 10 because it is about finding the truth. This is why we can't accept the ripe old age of 108 years for a raven either, as claimed in other myths, and subtract it as well.

962-108 = 854.

         This number matches the 854-year planetary cycles that the Viennese astronomer K. Ferrari d'Occhieppo (2) had developed from Babylonian tablets, which we will support below with the astronomical data. As this would be a major discovery, some critics may accuse us of over-simplifying the ancient mysteries. However, the most famous riddle of Antiquity is even simpler:

The Sphinx sat on a high rock and guarded the entrance of Thebes. Although the exact wording varies from source to source, she asked each traveler the following question: “What has one voice and goes in the morning on four legs, at mid-day on two, and in the evening on three, and the more legs it has, the weaker it gets?” Then the Sphinx strangled and devoured anyone unable to answer the question, until Oedipus solved the riddle: "Man, who crawls on all fours as a baby, walks on two feet as an adult, and with a cane in old age". Bested at last, the Sphinx threw herself from the rock to her death.

          If the Phoenix Myth has such a simple solution, Plutarch may have read reports that the phoenix was seen by wise men in 860 and 6 BCE. This could explain why the phoenix has been connected to the birth and resurrection of Christ by the early Church, and it might even confirm our interpretation of Kepler's findings, that Phoenix and "Christmas Star" were one and the same phenomenon.

 

2. Christian sources

          The Dutch scholar R. van den Broek (3) made a comprehensive study of the Myth of the Phoenix and translated a Coptic sermon from the 6th century that mentions several appearances of the phoenix, even the one at the birth of Christ:

...There is a bird called Phoenix. This bird, when the fire came from heaven and consumed

the sacrifice of Abel the righteous, the fire of that sacrifice (now) consumed that bird at the

same time, reduced it to ashes... 

 

This bird indicates to us the resurrection of the Lord. Just as the bee eats from the flowers

of the field which are wax to it, and from the dew of heaven which is honey to it, so too the

phoenix lives on the dew of heaven and the flowers of the trees of Libanon. At the time (now)

that God brought the children out of Egypt by the hand of Moses, the phoenix showed itself

on the temple of On (i.e. Heliopolis), the city of the sun...

 

According to the number of its years it was the tenth time since genesis after the sacrifice of

Abel that it made a sacrifice of itself: in this year (now) the Son of God was born in Bethlehem.

And on the day the priest Zechariah was killed, they installed the priest Simeon in his place.

The phoenix burned itself on the pinnacle of the temple in Jerusalem. On the eighth day after

the holy Virgin had brought fourth our Savior, she took him with Joseph to the temple in order

to make a sacrifice for him as firstborn, he was named Jesus. From that moment on no one

has ever seen this bird up to this day.  Our fathers have born witness: God shall shame the

idol worshippers on the day of judgment because of this bird, because ... you have not looked

at this same bird ... which after three days lives and assumes its former shape. This bird (now)

indicates to us the resurrection...

    We are indebted greatly to van den Broek's detailed research, although he disagrees with Plutarch and calculates the lifespan of the phoenix differently. But he suggests that the myth of the phoenix figured in Judeo-Christian traditions since Antiquity. On God's preference of Abel's sacrifice over Cain's (4), he compares texts on the heavenly fire that descended at the consecration of the temple at Jerusalem (2 Chron. vii.1), with the same event when Elijah sacrificed on Mount Carmel (I Kings xviii.38). If Coptic Christians related this "divine fire" to the death and rebirth of the phoenix, we can show below that this consecration occurred in 860 BCE, the year of Elijah's sacrifice and of Elisah's birth. This is supported in 1 Kings 19:16, the following chapter in the Bible, where the Lord tells Elijah to anoint Elisah to be prophet in your place.   

According to Margherita Guarducci "...a remarkable double phoenix (was) found in the tomb of Valerii in the necropolis below the Vatican. A niche in this grave carries a drawing of the head of Christ, the upper part of which makes a transition into two birds joined by one body". Guarducci dates it at the end of the third or the beginning of the fourth century. On the common body of the two birds is the word Vibus (vivus, the living one), and next to the right hand bird appears the word Pho(e)neus, corrected by the same hand to read phoeniceus avis, "the Phoenician" or "purple-red bird". Under the left head is written vixisti (thou hast lived), and over the right head avis (r)evibis "thou liveth again, bird".(4)

From the same period, van den Broek (5) quotes a description of phoenix by the Latin poet Claudian, an Egyptian by birth, who arrived in Rome during the late 4th century. It seems that Claudian was familiar with our miraculous star that dissolves in the rays of the evening sun:

"... according to Claudian, the deterioration of the phoenix is expressed in the weakening of the bird's light, in the slow extinguishing of its star, and the impotence of its wings...

The light that diminishes is the light that shines around the phoenix in a fiery ring and the star that fades is the star that rises above its head and pierces the dark with its brilliant light...

Claudian compares the decreasing light of this star with that of the moon retiring behind clouds ... We shall see that in Claudian it is in this sense, as bird of the sun, that the phoenix makes an appeal to the sun in order to accomplish the renewal of its life."

 

3. Astronomical Support

          We have seen that Kepler features the great conjunction of Saturn, Jupiter and Mars and dismissed the 800-year cycle with Saturn and Jupiter as astrological nonsense. Although it is probably hidden in his rhetoric, he never addressed the 854-year cycle verbatim. His decision to feature Mars may have been as far as he could go without risking his life, because any astronomer can calculate that planetary positions repeat in the same location of the Zodiac after 72 orbits of Jupiter, 29 of Saturn, and a little over 454 of Mars. The cycle is actually slightly less than 854 years, probably around 853,95, which a mathematician needs to double-check. However, by starting with Tuckerman's data, we can show conclusively that the "planetary triangles" appeared in these intervals before and after 6 BCE. Here is, at first, a detailed comparison of two examples:

WATERY TRIANGLE on February 12, 6 BC and FIERY TRIANGLE on February 28, 6 BCE

WATERY TRIANGLE on January 21, 849 and FIERY TRIANGLE on February 02, 849

          In view of Kepler's suggestion that there may be grains of truth in the "dung of superstition", millenniums of astrology cannot be utter nonsense. Isn't it possible that the ancients had a higher sensitivity we have since lost?  For example, the planetary line-ups could amplify information from a distant Solar system. Or the gaseous, Solar tides are magnified by the gravitational forces of the planetary line-ups, which would expose Earth, which is isolated behind the Sun, to radiation from its inner core. Hence, the diverse cycles could be like a "cosmic clock" that influenced or controlled our climates and the evolutionary process. Even the old saying that "history repeats itself " could be based on these cycles!

          Amateurs are fortunate, because we can keep an open mind without risking an academic reputation! We can examine the facts and avoid "believing" others, including the experts! This is why, before we proceed, Tuckerman's data needs to be compared with the above triangles. There is no year 0, which is why 6 BCE is -5:

           Thanks to the Information Age, we can access Tuckerman's tables ourselves, but they cover "only" 601 BCE to CE 1 (vol.1) and 2 to 1649 CE (vol.2), which required some extra creativity in the 1980's. During a visit of the Griffith Observatory (Los Angeles), the astronomer John Mosley generated the triangles on his little computer and suggested that Radio Shack may have a some similar software. But this seemed a bit crude and a friend at JPL (Pasadena) was kind enough to run geocentric print-outs of specific Solar and planetary positions in 860 and 6 BCE, 849 and 1703 CE. As these sketches show, there were at least four appearances of the fabulous phoenix:

         Several metamorphoses can be seen: There is the transformation from a watery to a fiery triangle, with a more compressed shape of the triangles each time – and a shift of roughly 6.5 degrees forward and finally passing the vernal equinox. The process is dynamic because the relative positions of the planets change slightly in each appearance of the phoenix as Saturn and Jupiter reach their positions later, while Mars keeps gaining. Consequently, each subsequent hexagram is more compact, more perfect, until it finally dissolves. Which is a first clue that diverse phoenix periods come and go!

         The equinox of  6 BCE is kept at 0 degrees to visualize the shift every 854 years. How this relates to the precession of equinoxes, which is usually calculated as one degree every 70 years, needs to be explained by an astronomer to us. But it is quite clear that this spectacular, recurring event is unique and was observed by the ancients. Without a doubt, the most famous riddle of Antiquity is solved:

 A Phoenix Cycle is roughly 4270 years long, and every 854 years the phoenix is burned by the Sun and rises from its ashes again!

 

       4. We have trapped the fabulous Phoenix!

          Although the “great Platonic year” is often seen as the 26,000 years of an entire precession orbit, it seems that our “phoenix cycle” is the better match. The planetary line-ups in Aries every 854 years are convincing in view of the Platonic numbers 54/108 from Hesiod’s riddle, and it is a convincing solution of the "riddle of the lifespan of the phoenix", according to Plutarch. It certainly looks like Kepler was right, because we have the support of the "cometary star" from the oracles of Balaam in the Old Testament.

         Hence, the "Star" or phoenix would herald the fullness of time because all planets are "burned" by the sun during the day, which made them invisible, to return for a "new beginning" at night in Aries, the First Sign. Skeptics need to consider that these planetary line-ups are not to be confused with actual "conjunctions", because ancient sages like Plato and Berossus were no fools: they meant that the planets line up like ducks in a row.

       The little sketch below shows the planetary massings during the fiery triangle on the following days:

1)  March 20, 860 BCE  2)  February 28, 6 BCE,  3)  February 2, 849 CE,  4) January 18, 1703 CE.

 

These days are rough estimates and it would take a mathematician or astronomer to calculate the exact dates according to the planetary positions. But it is evident that the metamorphosis from the watery to the fiery triangle occurs each time in a celestial area of roughly 10 degrees. The sketch at left shows the zigzag line at the time of the fiery triangle. Note that these are extreme distances and that the zigzags are exaggerated, out of proportion and  "not to scale"! Kepler was the first to discover and measure the ecliptic orbits of the planets, but only an expert could calculate their actual distances on these days. On the average, Earth is about 150 million km from the Sun, and Saturn would be about 1.43 billion km behind the Sun. If we add up these immense distances, a variation of four degrees makes it still appear like a straight line from Earth all the way out to Saturn. For astronomers, and especially the many skeptics, the authentic JPL print-outs from the 1980s are offered below. The first number at left is the Solar crossing of the international date line. The examples show the approximate time of the fiery triangle, except in 860 BCE, where we are two weeks early. But as said above, any expert can transpose the data to the right dates, and will confirm this discovery and that our entire Solar system moves in these 854-year cycles.

 

5. Conclusions

            This means that the phoenix will make its next appearance in 2556 CE as a perfect hexagram at Christmas time. Too bad we can't wait that long to see it with our own eyes! The above zigzag line may also be symbolized by the ancient sun-wheel, the swastika, as the wise men of Antiquity had no comprehension of the extreme distances the planets were apart. But if we consider that our entire Solar system moves in cycles of 854 years, and that on special occasions the triangles herald a planetary line-up from Earth all the way out to Saturn, we may have to conclude that this event played an important role in our history and evolution.

            Whether real or imagined, the claim that the ancients observed this phenomenon may be difficult to accept today. But in a world without television, books, cars and any of the other modern conveniences, the peoples of the Mediterranean and the Middle East had every night to contemplate the whole, unpolluted vault of the sky. This is probably why there are so many related texts, which connect to the triangles in the sky, and which are difficult to dismiss as mere coincidences. They relate to 860 and 6 BCE, and to 849 CE, and are from the Bible, Plato's Timaeus, Plutarch's Moralia, early grail romance, and other sources. They indicate that the celebrated Aristotelian revolution may have also had its price: The lost “gnosis” about a link between astrophysical and genetic phenomena, the macrocosm and the microcosm. Which is probably why Chrétien started his grail poem with the parable of the seed to lead to a grail that "shines so brightly that the light of the candles faded like the stars, when the Sun or Moon rise"...

            According to our findings, the "Star of Bethlehem" is not a Christian miracle but another return of the phoenix. This adds a dramatic perspective to Biblical prophesy and allows the interpretation that Elijah and Elisah reincarnated as John the Baptist and Jesus Christ after 854 years or, at least, believed in such a "divine miracle". We have also seen that it takes the planetary hexagram from 860 BCE to 2556 CE to take shape, which is almost 3500 years, or twice as long if we disregard the symbolism of the triangles. In De stella nova, Kepler came up with two final options, that the Supernova was either a natural event or created by God. Curiously, he made a few subtle suggestions that another type of option remains unsolved: He wondered if the Supernova could inspire humanity in 1604 to invent the art of flying and travel to the Moon or to other planets? (p.216) Why did he emphasize so strongly that other worlds in the universe are inhabited, unless he contemplated that the line-ups of our Solar system opened up communication with extraterrestrials? Because, perhaps, the many forms of radiation were still unknown and the only explanation for this unknown force was that it originated in an inhabited Solar system between Pisces and Aries? An adventurous idea that will be explored on the next level of our project, but without losing sight of the other the cycles, like the one Kepler observed in 1604. If we can establish that certain events repeat every 854 years, we could learn much about our future. With a better understanding of these phenomena, there may come a time when we are able to predict natural catastrophes – and even reduce fanatism and avoid wars.

            Berossus of Babylon proposed that these planetary "massings", or line ups at certain locations in the sky, caused the great conflagrations and inundations. According to Plato, many civilizations were destroyed, either by water in the valleys or by fire in the mountains. The Platonic concept that our planet is a living organism may get some support if we can show that these line-ups have a direct effect on us, on the meteorological conditions and on our development and psyche. The existence of such a force "from above" would actually confirm some religious beliefs if we establish that it guides the evolution. We may find, for example, that Mao, Stalin and Hitler revived the First Crusade, which would explain the renewed religious fanatism of our present era. The changes of climate would show that our African ancestors followed the animals (their food) to the North until they were trapped in hostile environments and had to withdraw for millenniums to caves – and slowly turned "lighter" as their pigmentation adapted. Hence, the animals they painted on the walls of their caves could have been fond memories of better times.

            Before we expand the controversial subject of "race", and visit a Madonna and Child as black as ebony, we must point out that we have reached one of the many crossroads of our quest! Those of you, who have difficulty in continuing on this path of superstition and mythology may want to return to more solid ground. Master Chrétien would be a good choice, because his work requires the sharp mind of a philologist. It's all about history and etymology, and definitely more fun than Balaam, Elisah and Jesus Christ. But whichever virtual path you chose, don't be surprised if you find yourself crossing several times, even in the Catholic sense. It's the nature of our quest. 

 

6. Appendix

            Let's briefly address the Mayan calendar, which ends on December 21, 2012. Modern Bible "prophets" are beginning to exploit this date as Armageddon and end of the world for non-believers. With the help of our phoenix calculations, which are much more precise and ominous, we can expose this flawed theory by showing that there is no planetary line-up. Besides, if the Mayas were right, the world should have ended 854 years earlier, in January of 1159 CE, when the Solar and planetary positions were similar. (See Mayan Prophecy).

BACK                         LIBRARY               

 

            Notes

            1.  Plutarch, de defectu oraculorum, Moralia, Vol. XI, (Harvard, 1927), pp.381-387

            2.  Konradin Ferrari d'Occhieppo, Hypothese zu einer 854-jährigen Planetenperiode in der Babylonischen Astronomie, (Vienna, 1969) His concept is developed from the Babylonian cuneiform tablet (British Museum Inf. No. 35429) and other fragments, where the positions of Saturn, Jupiter and Mars in 7 BCE are recorded.

            3.   R. van den Broek, The Myth of the Phoenix, (Leiden, 1972), pp.44-47

            4.   Ibid., p.119

            5.   Ibid., p.159

            6.   Ibid., p.163

 

 

 

 

 

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